With so many hedgehog owners sharing photographs and videos of their pets online, the interest in keeping a pet hedgehog continues to increase at a rapid pace as more and more people add a hedgehog to their family.
Thankfully, hedgehogs can be an easy animal to keep as a pet and most of them won’t have serious problems but we have seen people asking about their pet hedgehog bleeding from its anus recently so we wanted to publish this article.
Any type of bleeding from the anus in a hedgehog should be checked by a veterinarian as all causes can result in serious health problems or even a fatality of the hedgehog.
Thankfully, the majority of the time, your hedgehog will often just have a urinary tract infection or bacterial infection in its digestive system with both of these often being easy to treat quickly with antibiotics.
Ideally, you really should be getting the opinion of a veterinarian for any bleeding from the anus in your pet hedgehog though as there are less common problems that need slightly different treatments.
We know that taking your hedgehog to your local veterinary office can be expensive but you are usually able to book a video call with a veterinarian for a much lower price and have them examine your hedgehog via the camera on your smartphone.
What Would Cause A Hedgehog To Bleed From Its Anus?
The most common causes of a hedgehog bleeding from its anus are a urinary tract infection and a bacterial infection in the hedgehog’s digestive system.
Both can result in bleed coming out of the hedgehog’s anus due to a number of reasons but there are also a number of less common, often more serious reasons that a hedgehog may bleed from its anus so you should seek assistance from a veterinarian.
Depending on your location, there are some internal parasitic infections that can also cause a hedgehog to bleed from its anus with this also being a common cause in warmer climates but it is very rare in colder areas due to the parasites requiring a warm climate.
Thankfully, these parasitic infections are also easy to treat with the correct medication and your hedgehog should be back to normal health within two weeks of treatment beginning.
The thing to remember is that the sooner you get the correct medication for your pet hedgehog the better and the higher the chances your hedgehog has of making a full and speedy recovery.
The longer any of these conditions are left to develop the more difficult they can be to treat and the higher the chances of long-term health problems and even fatalities are so get a veterinarian to help you as soon as possible.
How Can You Help A Hedgehog Bleeding From Its Anus?
No matter the reason for the bleeding, the correct medication to treat the underlying cause of a hedgehog bleeding from its anus will always be the best treatment option available.
In some very rare situations, your veterinarian may have to operate on your hedgehog if it is bleeding due to tumors but this is very rare and most causes can be treat with medication.
The problem is that the vast majority of people are not qualified or able to accurately assess their hedgehog’s health and condition to work out exactly why their hedgehog is bleeding.
This is why you really do need to get assistance from a vet as soon as possible even if it is a video call with a vet to have them assess your hedgehog via the camera on your smartphone as they can still ship the required medication to you.
We are fully aware of all of the “advice” you can find on social media about how to treat various problems with your pets including hedgehogs but we would never recommend that you follow it.
This advice is often wrong and sometimes dangerous to your pet with some of the advice that we have seen having a moderate to high chance of actually making the situation worse!
Should You Be Worried If Your Pet Hedgehog Is Bleeding From Its Anus?
Your hedgehog bleeding from its anus is a serious issue that does have to be treat as soon as possible as it can result in long term health problems and potentially the death of your hedgehog.
Most hedgehog owners who do notice blood around the groin of their hedgehog are rightfully worried as hedgehogs are induced ovulators and do not have a menstrual cycle so there is no natural reason for them to have blood around their groin.
As we mentioned, the more common problems such as urinary tract infections, bacterial infections in the digestive tract, and parasitic infections are all relatively easy to treat provided that you start treatment early.
Thankfully, the more difficult causes of a bleeding anus in hedgehogs are rarer with causes such as tumors often having other side effects to give you plenty of early warning that something is wrong with your pet hedgehog to help increase the chances of survival.
We all love our pets and it is totally natural to worry about your pet hedgehog, especially when blood is involved though even if the cause has been diagnosed with treatment having started.
Thankfully, the more common problems that can cause bleeding in a hedgehog will usually be totally treated within two weeks of starting treatment, and the vast majority of hedgehogs will usually make a full recovery.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over why your hedgehog may be bleeding from its anus to an end and we hope that we have been able to help our readers who are having this problem with their hedgehogs. In our opinion, there is no reason to try and treat bleeding in hedgehogs yourself as there is just too much risk involved but a veterinarian should usually be able to give you a specialist medication to quickly and easily get your hedgehog back to full health.
